Romania activates rescEU mechanism, repatriates 273 citizens amid Middle East security crisis

Two evacuation flights carrying Romanian citizens affected by the security crisis in the Middle East landed in Bucharest on Monday, March 9, bringing home 273 Romanians, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) announced. The repatriations were carried out through the European Union’s rescEU mechanism, which Romania requested to activate for evacuations.

According to the MAE, Romania, through the Department for Emergency Situations within the Ministry of Internal Affairs, requested the activation of rescEU, becoming the first country to use the European mechanism for repatriation operations since its creation in 2019.